BlackRock Frontiers premium persists despite share issues – BlackRock Frontiers Income reports that, during the year to 30 September 2017, the NAV increased by 21.5%, compared with the benchmark, the MSCI Frontier Markets Index, which rose by 25.5%. The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose by 22.5% over the same period. (All performance figures are in US Dollars on a total return basis). The Directors are recommending the payment of a final
dividend of 4.20 cents per ordinary share (2016: 4.00 cents) in respect of the year ended 30 September 2017. Together with the interim dividend of 2.70 cents per share (2016: 2.60 cents), this represents a total of 6.90 cents per share (2016: 6.60 cents), an increase of 4.5%.
The chairman says that Frontier Markets have continued to perform strongly during the year and says exposure to countries such as Argentina, Kuwait, Kazakhstan and Egypt have been the key drivers of the returns delivered.
The company has not been slow to issue shares, a total of 13,535,000 new ordinary shares were issued during the year to 30 September 2017. A further 2,898,000 new ordinary shares were issued during the period from 1 October 2017 up to the date of this report. Nevertheless, the were trading at a premium of 9.0% on a cum-income basis at 29 November 2017.
The report breaks down the returns from each market that the fund invests in. Argentina and Kuwait delivered returns in excess of 40%. Only one country, Oman, delivered a negative return (-7.4%). the report does not provide any stock by stock performance attribution figures but does go into the fund’s top 10 holdings and the rationale behind the manager’s faith in them.
BRFI : BlackRock Frontiers premium persists despite share issues